


Birthday Surpises

by Sydy



Series: Tangled in Time [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders' Era, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/720731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sydy/pseuds/Sydy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the morning of Hermione Granger's 11th birthday and she would never guess how different her life would become in the next few weeks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Birthdays and Wizard Shopping

It was the morning of Hermione Granger's eleventh birthday and she could never imagine how different her life would become in the one day. When she reached the landing of the first floor she saw her mom with a letter in her hand and a strange lady talking to her.

When her mother saw her she beckoned for her to come over and explained that the lady was Professor McGonagall.

"Hello Mrs. Granger," Professor McGonagall addressed Hermione, "I have a couple of things I would like to tell you and your parents," and with that Hermione's mom lead them all into their living room.

Once they were all a situated in the living room McGonagall began explaining that Hermione is a witch and is being asked to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this school year.

"How will she get her school supplies?" her father asked.

"You mean I can go?" exclaimed the young curly haired girl.

"I would like to take her today if that is alright with all of you."

"Well I guess we could celebrate her birthday when she gets home or tomorrow," her mother supposed.

"Alright then if it is okay I would like to leave now. We have a lot to get done today."

With that Hermione was sent upstairs to get ready to leave and McGonagall explained the rest of the details to the pair of muggle parents. Hermione soon emerged down stairs and bid farewell to her parents as she walked out with the caring but stern looking professor.

They soon arrived at a rundown looking pub and Hermione was scared to enter but McGonagall calmed her telling her that it was the easiest way to enter Diagon Alley and, only wizards could enter it. When they made their way through and into Diagon Alley the first thought Hermione had was of pure amazement of the place. There were so many people and shops with and different signs.

"Okay the first thing we need to do is go to Gringotts," upon seeing the confused look on Hermione's face she said, "It is the finest and safest place to keep your money."

Hermione was amazed at how big the place was, and she felt a bit sick after the ride to her school safe.

"Alright now that you've got money it is time to get your wand."

"How am I going to get a wand?"

"Well I'm taking you to Ollivanders. He is the best person to get a wand from."

As they made their way down the cobblestone street Hermione saw many different things. She slowly became more and more exited till they finally reached Ollivanders.

"Hello Ollivaner I have a young witch here in need of a wand."

"Ah, yes follow me…"

"Hermione," she quietly said.

"Hermione, if you will kindly follow me well get you a wand."

After trying many wands they came across the right one, a 10 ¾ in., vine wood and dragon Heartstring wand. After about another hour of shopping they finally finished and Hermione was brought back home to finish the celebration of her birthday.

"This is your ticket to ride the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross Station. The train will leave promptly at 11:00 am."

"Thank you, professor," was all Hermione managed to say. With a short nod McGonagall left the family alone to their celebration of their eleven year olds birthday.

After opening all of her presents, which were mostly books, and eating a slice of cake our young witch retreated to her room and sat on her bed to begin one of her new books. No one noticed the man standing outside with a wand cast a spell on Hermione as she sat at her window reading.


	2. Mishap at Platform 9 3/4

The weeks till the first day of school could not pass any slower than they did. By the time September 1st Hermione had already read through all of her books twice and Hogwarts: A History at least four times. Though, the weeks did happen to have a few incidents like breaking a few things when her temper got the best of her.

The day finally came and Hermione was exited and ready to go when her mother and father decided they did not want her to go. They reasoned this with the classic excuse of, "magic isn't real they are just trying to get you to go to an expensive private school," upon hearing this Hermione burst in to tears and ran to her room. A few minutes later she came down and asked how they explain all the things she's done when she gets upset or angry. They continued arguing like this for several minutes till her father decided that if she wanted to go so bad that Hermione would have to figure out her own way there.

"Fine I will," and with that she ran upstairs to grab her trunk full of school supplies and headed out the door. She made her way to the bus station a few blocks down the street and bought a bus ticket to Kings Cross Station. The bus would get her there an hour before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave.

When the bus arrived she gave the driver her ticket and took her seat at the front of the bus when a boy about her age sat down next to her who introduced himself as Seamus.

"Where are you going with such a large trunk," she asked noticing his luggage. She secretly hoped he was going to Hogwarts; he seemed like a nice boy.

"I'm on my way to Kings Cross Station to ride the train to school, my parents are not able to take me," he said the last part a little downcast. Hermione perked up a bit at hearing where he was going.

"I'm going there too. What school are you attending?" She asked maybe to exited.

"I'm going to a private school called Hogwarts," he stated without hesitation just as his parents taught him in order to prevent muggles from finding out about the Wizarding School.

"So am I! Maybe we'll have a few classes together," she stated happy to know someone she would be at school with.

The two continued to talk about school and get to know eachother the rest of the bus ride. The bus pulled up to the station and they climbed off with their trucks and walked into the building. It was packed inside with people running around trying to get to their platforms before they missed their train.

Hermione was soon separated from Seamus because of the overflow of people. She started looking for him when she looked at the clock and saw it was 10:30 and started heading to Platform 9 ¾ . When she reached platform 9 she walked by expecting to see platform 9 ¾, but all she saw was a mass of people and platform 10. She was completely confused it should be between platforms 9 and 10 but it was not there.

"Excuse me sir, but where is Platform 9 ¾?"

The man looked at her with a confused and irritated look. He had clearly been asked this before and did not find it funny. Hermione walked away and asked a few more people before she asked a kind looking, red headed woman. This time she was met with an understanding look.

"Excuse me miss, my name is Hermione."

"Hello, I'm Mrs. Weasley," the red headed lady replied with a kind look.

"Do you know how to get to Platform 9 ¾ ."

"It's right this way honey. You must be a first year my son is a first year to," she said motioning to the youngest red head boy, who waved at her.

"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley," he introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Hermione."

At that moment a young, jet black haired boy walked up and asked the same question Hermione had just a few moments ago.

"Okay you two, all you have to do is run right through that barrier," she said pointing at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. With the uneasy looks she received from the two she further explained, "All you have to do is get a running start at it. Watch Percy," she motioned to one of the boys and a tall boy ran at the barrier and disappeared through with all his stuff.

"All right Fred, George your turn," and two boys who must have been twin, also with red hair, ran through one right after the other. "Alright your turn," she motioned to Harry.

"M-me," Harry asked pointing to himself.

"Yes you, come on. That's right line yourself up with the wall," she said while he lined himself up and got ready to go. "Now all you have to do is run strait at the wall," a moment later Harry was gone through the wall.

Hermione could not believe that four people had just disappeared through a brick barrier, and she was wondering how they did it. She had read all her school books multiple times over but she never came across anything about it. It must be in a later school book; maybe she can research it in the library. She was soon pulled out of her thoughts though.

"Your turn, Hermione," the kind lady said motioning to her.

"O-okay," she said a bit uneasily, as she lined herself up with the barrier as she had seen the previous four people do.

"That good now all you need to do is run strait at the wall just like the others did," she instructed.

Hermione proceeded to take a deep breath and took off at a run hoping she would go through and not crash into a solid brick wall. She reached the wall and flinched as she reached it but continued to run until she made it through, having a strange cold feeling and proceeded to run into someone.

She and a boy then untangled their limbs from eachother and he helped her up.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin," he introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. Sorry for running into," she shyly said.

"It's ok I shouldn't have been standing that close to the barrier. You want to go bored the train."

"Sure," and with that they walked to the train pulling their trunks with them.

Hermione had no clue what had just happened.


	3. Hogwarts Express

After searching nearly every compartment on the Hogwarts Express Hermione and her new friend, Remus, found an empty compartment near the back of the train. They entered it and Remus proceeded to pull out what looked like a newspaper and put his trunk away. He then sat down and started to read the newspaper.

Hermione noticed the moving pictures on the cover and shyly asked, "Um… what are you reading?"

"It's the Daily Prophet, you're a muggle born aren't you?" he asked noticing her confusion and yet amazed look on her round face, he then handed her the first page.

"What's a muggle," she asked as she examined the page.

"A muggle is what wizards call people who do not have magical powers."

"Oh ok, then yes I am a muggle born," she answered as she read the headline of the Daily Prophet and then read the article:

Smith Killed; Hufflepuff's Cup Stolen

"Mrs. Hepzibah Smith was found dead in her home this morning. Her house elf Hokey is suspected of poisoning her... A friend states that Mrs. Smith's most prized object, Hufflepuff's Cup has turned up missing…"

As she finished the article she noticed the printed date of the paper, 1971. "Remus?" she asked worry evident in her voice.

"Ya?" he replied looking up when he heard the worried tone in her voice.

"Is this an old copy," she asked hopping it was and not sure what she would do if it was not.

"No, my owl delivered it this morning. Why do you ask?" Remus slowly replied not sure where this was going.

"So today is September 1, 1971, then?" she asked growing a little scared and feeling a pit drop in her stomach as she saw Remus slowly nod his head looking at her like she's a lunatic.

"Yes. Again why do you ask?" by now he was focusing 100% on Hermione and his copy of the Daily Prophet lay next to him long forgotten.

"I don't know what happened… How did I get to the 70's from the 90's… was this supposed to happen?" Hermione began rambling and slowly grew more panicked to the point where tears were rolling down her face. She became scared that she would never see her parents again.

Remus saw this and moved over to sit by her and began rubbing comforting circles into her back. Feeling her shaking he tried to get her to calm down. After a few minutes of her crying into her hands she calmed down enough to speak but still had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Remus, what year were you born?" knowing what answer she would get.

"Um, 1960. I'm a first year, why?"

"Are you serious?" Hermione was becoming panicked again and the tears that had almost stopped were coming more quickly again.

A boy suddenly opened the the compartment door, "No I'm Sirius," he said then shut the compartment door and laughed as he left. They heard him yell out "ow" and assumed someone had hit him. Hermione looked at Remus questioningly.

"I don't know," he said shaking his head," and yes I am, now please calm down and tell me what wrong," he did not want Hermione to start crying again he did not know why but it made him sad to see this young girl whom he just met so sad.

Hermione took a few deep breaths and explained that she is from the 90's and somehow ended up here. "I don't know how I got here though and I don't know any magic. I'm supposed to be a first year."

"Ok, now it's my turn. Are you serious?" Remus could not believe what this bushy haired girl was telling him, but the look in her eyes told him that her incredible story was somehow true and that he needed to believe her.

"Yes, but I don't have any way to prove it to you," she was shocked that he was not looking at her like she was crazy but rather like he believed her.

"It's ok I believe you, and I will help you figure out how you got here."

"Y-you believe me? Why?" Hermione asked disbelievingly. She was expecting him to gather up his stuff and leave her thinking she was a loon.

"Yes, you haven't given me a reason not to believe you and I have even more unbelievable stories I could tell you some other time," he told her thinking of his story of how he has lycanthropy.

At that moment there was a knock at the compartment door. Remus opened the door and was met by a lady with a trolley selling an assortment of sweets. He bought some chocolate frogs; Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties and returned to his seat to share with Hermione.

"Thanks," Hermione replied as she took a chocolate frog and opened it only to have it jump out of the box and out the open compartment door.

"That happens but it looks like you got a Dumbledore card."

A few moments later they changed into their robes and got off the train. They were met by a large man who led them to some boats to travel across the Great Lake. Remus climbed into a boat followed by Hermione. They soon reached the other side and were met by a lady who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, and led them into Entrance Hall of the castle. All the first years were told to wait there until they were led in to be sorted.


	4. The Sorting Ceremony

"What are we waiting for?" Hermione asked Remus who glanced at her.

"We're waiting to be lead into the Great Hall where we'll be sorted into either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Hermione noticed he said the last with distain and his tired and calm face even had a flash of hatred come across it.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Hermione asked, realizing that there had to be a good reason to get this reaction from this seemingly calm boy.

"The house of Slytherin is notorious for producing the worst witches and wizards. The students sorted there are mostly pure- bloods who hate all half- bloods and 'mudbloods'," he said the last word with air quotes and disgust at thinking of the word.

"Oh," Hermione said then pointing at a boy and said, "at a boy and said, "Hey isn't he that boy who opened our compartment door on the train?" she then began walking towards him.

"Wait where are you going?" he asked then jogged to catch up with her.

"Hi, I'm Hermione and this is Remus," she introduced herself and motioned to Remus as he came up behind her. "Aren't you the boy who opened our compartment door on the train?"

"Ya, I'm Sirius Black," he held out his hand and she and Remus shook it.

"And I'm the one who smacked him for it. He has no sense for others privacy," he shot Sirius a pointed look with that comment, "James Potter," a boy standing beside Sirius said. He had messy jet black hair and wore glasses. The boy held out his hand and they all shook it as well.

The Great Hall doors then opened and Hermione saw four long tables with kids varying from the ages of 12-17 years of age sitting on either side of the tables. All of them stopped talking as the first years began filling up to the front where another long table was placed where the professors were seated. McGonagall began reading names off of a long piece of parchment. It then dawned on Hermione that her name would not be on the list. Her hands became sweaty and she started shaking.

Remus' POV

When they reached the front of the Great Hall and the sorting began all he could think about was that he did not care what house he was sorted into as long as it was not Slytherin. He absolutely despised that house and anyone in it because of their pure- blood prejudices and he did not want anything to do with them.

He glanced at Hermione and noticed her pale face and shaking hands and became worried. "Are you okay?" he asked leaning over to her so he could whisper.

"R-Remus, how's my name going to get on that list?" She asked with a shaky voice and tears beginning to form in her big brown eyes.

Sirius' POV

"Black, Sirius," McGonagall called out.

Sirius turned white and slowly began walking up muttering to himself. He shakily sat down and felt the hat be dropped on his head and his eyes were covered.

"Ah another Black," the hat said.

"Ya, but I'm nothing like my family!" Sirius thought stubbornly.

"No, you're right so you would not fit in Slytherin."

"Thank God," Sirius sighed.

"So there's only one place for you, GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

The Gryffindors erupted into cheers while the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs politely clapped. Some of the Slytherins shot him murderous looks and others were too stunned or confused to do anything. All Sirius did was smile at them with a goofy look.

Hermione's POV

Her, Remus, and James saw this and burst out laughing. For a moment Hermione forgot all her worries and felt she had friends and could live here for awhile.

"Evans, Lily," McGonagall called. A pretty red headed girl walked up and the moment the hat touched her head she was sorted into Gryffindor. James immediately stopped laughing and stared at her.

"Earth to James," Remus said waving his hand in front of James' face, who jerked his head back in surprises.

"By the time we graduate she will be my girlfriend," James announced.

"No, that's not going to happen, mate," Remus said in a definite tone.

"Yes it will."

Hermione watched the two argue back and forth on this subject for a few more minutes. Then she heard McGonagall call, "Granger, Hermione," and her heart stopped and she stood in her place stock still. She didn't think it possible to move had Remus not nudged her toward McGonagall and the stool.

As she walked forward the only thing on her mind was, "How did my name get on the list?"

She sat down on the stool and felt the hat be gently placed on her head and her eyes and ears were covered by the brim.

"Ah, interesting story you have. You don't belong here in the 70's do you?" the sorting hat asked.

"No I'm from the 90's," she thought.

"Well then, how'd you get here?"

"I don't know. Something happened when I crossed the barrier to Platform 9 ¾."

"Well until you can get home why don't I place you in GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

The conversation replayed in Hermione's head as she walked over and sat down next to Sirius at the Gryffindor table.

Remus' POV

Remus was glad Hermione was placed in Gryffindor and hoped he could be as lucky and be with her in the same house. He continued to think about such things until his thoughts were interrupted by McGonagall calling, "Lupin, Remus,"

Remus slowly walked over hopping beyond all things he would be sorted into Gryffindor. He sat down and felt the hat be placed on his head.

"This is different. I must admit you are the first werewolf I've had the pleasure of sorting," the hat said. Remus flintced at hearing the hat say that he is a werewolf. "Don't worry no one else can hear what I say to you."

"Okay," Remus replied feeling better.

"Now where to put you. Since you are a werewolf you would belong in Slytherin-" the hat began.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin," Remus interrupted.

"Don't worry. I wasn't going to put you there. I know you want to be with your friends so I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR."

As Remus walked to the cheering Gryffindors he released a breath he had not realized he'd been holding and sat down next to Hermione and watched James be sorted into Gryffindor a few minutes later and join them. After a boy named Peter Pettigrew was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Hermione's POV

Hermione felt at home being surrounded by her new friends and was thankful for them all being sorted into Gryffindor.

A few minutes later a boy named Severus Snape was called up. He had long greasy black hair and looked generally unhappy to be there. It was no surprise that he was soon sorted into Slytherin.

After the last student was sorted Dumbledore stepped up to the podium and McGonagall returned to her seat and the Sorting Hat and stool disappeared.

"Welcome everyone. Before we begin eating I would like to remind you all, especially the first years that the Forbidden Forest as named is forbidden to all students who do not wish to be severely injured. On another note the newly planted Whomping Willow is out of bounds to all students. Now tuck in," Dumbledore then sat down and food appeared on the tables and everyone began eating.

When everyone was done eating the heads of house lead them to their common rooms.


	5. The Plan

"Hey I finished the essay. Did you?" Hermione asked, closing her potions book and leaning back in her chair.

"Ya, almost done," Lily said as she wrote down a few more words at the bottom of her parchment paper and closed her book as well.

Hermione and Lily had become good friends in the past few weeks of school. They shared a dormitory room with two girls named Alice and Marlene. They were all good friends but Hermione felt like her and Lily had the strongest friendship. Of course she hung around with Remus more but he was doing something with James and Sirius. She asked him what it was but he would not tell her.

"Ok, you ready?" Lily asked, placing her books in her bag and standing.

"Ya, one moment," Hermione said putting away all her things.

They left the library and started walking quietly to the common room. After a few moments Lily had to break the silence.

"So, what's going on with you and Remus?" Lily asked slyly.

"What! Nothing he's the first person I met on the way here and we became good friends. It goes no farther than that," Hermione said maybe a little too quickly.

"Okay, sure we'll go with that," Lily said sarcastically.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh just that I've seen the looks you two have given eachother while you study," she said

The two remained quiet for a few more minutes and Hermione got the feeling that Lily did not know where they were going.

"Hey, Lily you do know where we are, right?" Hermione slowly asked.

"Ya, the it's right around the corner," Lily said as she rounded the corner, turned around and returned to Hermione's side. "Never mind I think were lost."

"I can't believe you got us lost Lily," Hermione complained.

"Look, I'm sorry the stairs move around a lot," Lily said, at that moment James came around the corner.

"Hey, where are you girls going?" James asked when he saw them.

"Well we were going to the common room till Lily got us lost," Hermione replied giving Lily a pointed look as she said it.

"We were coming from the Library and the stairs moved," Lily explained.

"They do have a tendency to do that. What were you doing in the library on a Saturday?" James asked.

"Studying, it's kind of what you do in a library," Lily answered slowly and sarcastically, "What were you doing in the astronomy tower on a Saturday when we don't have classes?" Lily countered.

"Same as you," James answered quickly.

"What were you studying in the Astronomy Tower at 11:00 in the morning?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I was studying the mar-agic," James caught himself before he gave away his secret.

"The mar-agic of what?" Lily asked mockingly.

"The magic of friendship?" James tried hoping the topic would be dropped.

"Whatever, can you help us find the common room?" Hermione asked shaking her head. She knew what he was really doing and clearly he didn't want Lily to know. She was helping them at night and let's face it if it weren't for her and Remus they never would have gotten started.

"Ya, come on," James said walking in the direction of the Portrait of the Fat Lady.

The three walked in silence for a few moments and Hermione noticed James was glancing at Lily and appeared to be debating something. James abruptly stopped and looked at Lily.

"Um… L-lily?" James stuttered and ran his hand through his hair, like he does when he's nervous, making it even messier than it already was.

"Yes," Lily replied.

"W-would you go with me to the Halloween Feast?" James asked rushing through the question.

"You mean like on a date?" Lily asked her voice rising as she reached the end of the question.

"Ya, I guess like a date." James said as his hopes of Lily becoming his girlfriend rose.

Lily appeared to ponder the question for a moment looking James up and down. James had a hopeful look on his face and Lily smiled at him.

"That would be my worst nightmare James Potter! We are first years and barley know eachother. Once we know eachother better then maybe I will consider it." She said sweetly and continued walking.

James deflated and slowly started walking to the common room. Hermione sighed and continued walking. She knew James really liked Lily and caught him staring at her constantly, but at the same time she felt Lily had a good point that they did not know eachother well enough to have a romantic relationship.

Hermione walked behind the group deep in thought until she was pulled back to earth by James.

"Hey, Hermione you still there?" James asked.

"What, oh ya I am. I was just thinking."

"What's the deal with you and Remus?" James asked.

Hermione groaned. All the girls in her dorm room and now James were asking her the same question. "Why does there have to be something between us, why can't we just be friends?" Hermione asked exasperatedly.

"Well you two do spend a lot of time together and I've noticed you two sharing glances," James said.

Hermione was glad to see the portrait when they turned the corner and walked up to it and said the password. The Portrait swung open and she walked in right as Remus was walking out and then ran in to him and for the second time fell and landed on him.

"Shut, I'm sorry… Oh Remus," Hermione said when she pushed up and saw who she was on top of.

"He we seem to be falling on eachother a lot. Are you okay?" Remus asked helping her up.

"Ya, ow," Hermione hissed when she put pressure on her left ankle, "No my ankle hurts."

"Here let me help you up to the Hospital Wing," Remus said, wrapping his arm around her waist and walking her out of the common room.

As they walked down the hall in the direction of the Hospital Wing Sirius leaned out the portrait hole and looked at James. The two shared a knowing glance, James with a look that said "I told you so," and Sirius with a look of, "Whatever, just shut up,"

"What are you two smiling about?" Lily said, interrupting their silent conversation.

"Just that out plan worked," Sirius slyly replied.

"You planed for her to break her wrist?" Lily asked with a look of disbelief on her face.

"No but we did plan to have them keep running into eachother like this," James replied, mock surprised that she would assume something like that.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because they are obviously perfect for eachother and already like eachother," Sirius said.

"Okay, have fun playing matchmaker," Lily said, passing Sirius who was still standing in the common room entrance and had yet to choose to stay inside or exit the common room.


	6. Pranks and Excuses

It was two weeks before Halloween and Hermione and Remus could be found in the Library every day. Everyone thought they were studying but they were really looking for a reason how Hermione got to the 70’s.   
“It’s getting late we should go to back to the common room before curfew.” Hermione said after about an hour of futile searching.   
“You’re probably right,” Remus said closing the book he had been reading with a yawn.   
Meanwhile in the common room:  
“James, James, James,” Sirius yelled, running through the portrait hole and up to James out of breath.  
“What, what, what,” James replied laughing at the Sirius as he tried to catch his breath.  
“Halloween is in two weeks,” Sirius said excitedly.  
“Yes Sirius it is,” James said slowly.  
“Ya, and I have a brilliant idea,” Sirius continued ignoring James’ last comment.  
“Okay and what would that be?” James prodded.   
“I was thinking-,” Sirius began.  
“You were thinking?” James asked in surprise.  
“Oh, haha very funny,” Sirius sarcastically said, “Any ways, as I was saying, I was thinking that you, Remus, Hermione, and I should pull a prank on Halloween.” Just as Sirius said this, Remus and Hermione walked through the common room entrance.   
“Perfect timing, we were just discussing a prank for us to pull on Halloween night at the feast,” James explaned to the two new arrivals. By the cautious looks the two gave each other Sirius began to explain his plan with a devious glint in his eyes, “I was thinking-,” Sirius gave James a look daring him to say anything, “we would enchant the ceiling in the Great Hall and make the pumpkins to sing. So you guys want to help?”  
Sirius looked at Hermione first and she appeared to ponder the idea for a minute before she finally gave a cautious answer.   
“Okay, it sounds fun.” Hermione gave in. Sirius and James seemed happy with this answer. “What about you Remus?” Hermione asked turning to him as she spoke.  
“Um… no- I – I can’t,” He stuttered.  
“Oh , why not?” James asked sounding a little disappointed.   
“I… have… detention,” Remus said, “Why would you say that? They aren’t going to believe that,” He thought.   
“You have detention, on Halloween?” Sirius said, “What did you do?” he asked curiously and feeling slightly proud that his friend got detention, but a little sad that he can’t help with the prank.  
“I-ah- was looking at some of the magical animals and he didn’t like that and gave me detention,” Remus lied, “That sounds believable,” he thought.  
“Why do you have to go on Halloween,” James asked curiously.  
“I don’t know. I heard him mutter something about the full moon,” Remus hopped he was not giving away too much about where he really was going. He was being picked up around 4:00 from the common room by Hagrid and he would be lead to the Whomping Willow and from there he would travel through a tunnel system to the Shrieking Shack. “I have to go to him once every month.”  
“Wow, for how long?” Hermione asked. Remus had forgotten she was there because she had been so quiet.  
“Um… I’m not sure,” Remus hopped they would just drop the topic, “So how were you planning on pulling this whole thing off anyways?” He asked in hopes of changing the subject.  
“Well…” Sirius began trying to figure out where to start, “You know how the third years go to Hogmeade?” Sirius asked.  
“Ya, I can’t wait till we get to go,” James commented.  
“There you are, Hermione, come with me,” Lily said walking down the stairs, “Alice and I need your help with something,” she said grabbing her hand and dragging her back up the stairs. Hermione complied and waved buy to the boys.  
“Okay, anyways I gave one of the third years some money and asked him to go to Zonko’s Joke Shop and buy me a joke book. When he came back he gave it to me, and I looked through it and found a few interesting spells in it,” Sirius explained.  
The next two weeks James, Sirius, Remus and Hermione could be found huddled around a piece of parchment in the corner of the common room. All though Remus could not actually take part in the prank, because of his “detention”, he still figured he could help plan it. Remus was surprised at how devious Hermione could be. She had contributed quite a bit to the prank, and she even suggested they make the pumpkins sing some muggle song she told them about called, “This is Halloween,” and they all agreed.  
Two days before Halloween Hermione noticed Remus was becoming very pale and was continually glancing at the moon at night when the four friends were gathered in the common room.   
“Hey you okay?” Hermione wrote down of a piece of parchment and slid it to him. She noticed he was shaking. They were sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts and he seemed like he was spacing out. She knew the class was his favorite and if he was not paying attention then something was wrong.   
“Ya, I’m just not feeling well,” he wrote down and passed it back to her.  
“Mr. Lupin and Mrs. Granger, my class is not a place for social time it is a place for learning. Twenty points from Gryffindor, that’s ten each. In the future I would appreciate you not passing notes,” Professor Alvarez sternly said as he took the parchment they were writing on and put it on his desk.  
After class Remus went straight to the Hospital Wing.   
“Can I see Remus, please?” Hermione asked.  
“He is not seeing anyone at the moment dear,” Madam Pomfrey told her, giving her a sympathetic look.  
No one saw Remus the remaining day until Halloween, and everyone was becoming worried. None of them was more concerned that Hermione.


	7. Transformations and Halloween

It was the night of Halloween and all through the castle every student could be seen gathered in the Great Hall for a feast. All accept one who was in the Gryffindor Tower waiting to be picked up and escorted to his “detention.” First year Remus Lupin sat apprehensively waiting for the arrival of Madam Pomfrey to take him to the Whomping Willow and guide him through the tunnel system to the Shrieking Shack. Madam Pomfrey was late and Remus was beginning to feel worse. He could feel the wolf at the edge of his mind, and he was not sure if he could wait any longer.   
Finally he heard the knock at the portrait. He stood and unsteadily walked out the door. Pomfrey took one look at him and knew that if she had been any later then it would have been too late and she briskly took him down and out the castle doors, having to stop once to drag him to the tree. As soon as the moon shown on Remus’ face he felt the Wolf grow stronger, and It edged It’s way farther into his mind. He would not make it.  
Remus was fighting the Wolf the whole time trying to keep it at bay. He would not let it take power this time. He would not let himself loose to this- this monster this time. Most importantly he would NOT lose himself. He was soon convulsing in agony. The knob at the base of the tree was prodded and Remus felt himself being carried through the tunnels. He was in great pain, and Madam Pomfrey pitied him for what he had to go through once a month. She laid him on the couch in the Shrieking Shack and barely made it out before he transformed.   
Remus felt his bones changing shape and his nose elongating to form a snout.   
“Why do I have to go through this every month?” he thought. “What would James and Sirius do if they found out what I am? What would Hermione do? Would she leave me?” the picture of her the scared face she would have if she found out was the last thing Remus thought.  
The Wolf took control and examined the new place glad to be back in power, yet he was sad. He smelled around and found no familiar scents. He knew he would be there for a long time and this made him angry. He did not want to be here. He wanted to be in his familiar area at home. He then noticed he was hungry. The Wolf looked around the house for food but could not find anything to eat. He then began clawing at his own arms. Crimson red blood flowed down his arms and formed pools of blood on the dirt covered ground. He lapped it up and continued wrecking havoc to his body to satisfy his hunger. Once this was done he began trying to find a way out of the building. He smashed into a mirror in the loo and felt the shattered glass cut his face and side.   
Remus tried to fight back and gain some control to save his body from the destruction of the monster but the Wolf was to strong, or maybe he was too weak.  
Meanwhile Hermione, James, Sirius, and Lily, who was around them by default of being Hermione’s friend, were entering the Great Hall early for the feast. James and Sirius immediately set to working out the grand prank.  
A few minutes after they finished they snuck out and Hermione set a timer spell so that as soon as the food appeared everything would go off. Not long after Professor Alvarez entered the Great Hall completely unaware of what had happened a few minutes before he entered.   
“We should walk down a different corridor so we don’t look suspicious,” Hermione said after she finished with the spell.   
“Ok,” James agreed, “Hey where did you learn that spell, Hermione?”   
“The time spell?” she asked looking at James. He nodded to confirm her question, “I read about it in a spell book in the library and thought it might come in handy some day so I wrote it down. Here,” she handed him a torn parchment piece she pulled out of her robe pocket.  
He pocketed the piece of parchment after looking at it. They continued to walk around the halls. James and Sirius were in front and Hermione and Lily followed behind them.  
“So, have you noticed the way James looks at you, Lily?” Hermione quietly asked.  
“Um, ya and it creeps me out. Honestly sometimes I wonder how you can be friends with them.”  
“Well they are good company and Remus is not like them,” Hermione stated, “and James likes you a lot. On the day of the sorting he said that you to would be dating by the end of your seventh year.”  
“That’s not going to happen,” Lily plainly stated.  
“Hey we should start heading back to the Great Hall dinner should be starting soon and we wouldn’t want to miss that,” Sirius said.  
“You’re right and I’m getting hungry anyways,” Hermione said.  
At that moment James slowed down to walk next to Lily. Lily gave a look to Hermione silently pleading with her to do something. She already knew what was coming. James had asked her out at least once a week for the past month and every time she told him no. Hermione gave her a sorry look and sped up to talk to Sirius. She did not see why Lily would not give James a chance other than them only being first years. She should at least get to know him. Lily was always trying to avoid him.  
“Hey Lily, how’s your day been?” James asked her. Hermione sighed a breath of relief when she heard his question. He was finally taking her advice and trying to have a real conversation with her.   
“Oh,” Lily was surprised that that was what he wanted to know, “It’s been pretty good. What about you?”  
“I’m good. Hey would you mind helping me with Herbology? Professor Sprout said that if I don’t get help that I would fail,” James exclaimed.   
“Are you serious? That’s what you wanted to ask me,” Lily asked in disbelief.  
“No I’m Sirius,” Sirius hollered back to them laughing.  
“Whatever and yeah I’m going to fail if I don’t get help what’d you think I was going to ask?”   
“Nothing, sure I’ll help you,” Lily said.  
They rounded the hall and entered the Great Hall. Most the students were already in there but some stragglers were still coming in and finding a seat at the long tables. Dumbledore stood and approached the podium to make his usual speech.  
“Good evening everyone and happy Halloween. On this night of festivities I would like to remind you that it is still mandatory to be back in your respective dorms by curfew. On that note tuck in,” he turned and took his seat as the food appeared on the tables.  
Hermione, James, Sirius, and Lily looked up expectantly and at that moment the ceiling began slowly changing colors from shades of blue to red. The floating jack-o- lanterns began to sing. Everyone was laughing as they dove into a chorus of “This is Halloween” which was Hermione’s idea.  
The teachers looked around trying to figure out who managed this stunt but all the students were laughing along with the song. Hermione glanced up to the Head Table and saw the twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes behind his half moon glasses.  
This continued all through dinner till the students made their way back to the common room.   
“That was great!” Sirius exclaimed as they made their way up the moving stair cases.  
“Yeah did you see the teacher’s faces?” James commented.   
“They had no idea who did it!” Hermione exclaimed through her laughter.


	8. Secrets Revealed Part 1

“Today we will be brewing a basic cure for boils,” Professor Slughorn announced as the last of the Gryffindor and Slytherin students found their seats. “All the ingredients are up here and instructions are on page 155 of your text book. Get started.”  
Hermione and Remus immediately headed up to retrieve their ingredients and worked together so they would only have to make one trip.   
“Hey let’s put all the ingredients in the middle of our desk so we can share a text book and our desk won’t be as crowded,” Hermione suggested.  
“Alright, that sounds good. So the step is to add 6 Snake Fangs to the mortar and crush them into a fine powder,” Remus read.  
The two continued working like this for the next fifteen minutes.  
“Well done Mr. Snape. Five points to Slytherin for a correctly brewed Cure for Boils.” Slughorn congratulated. “Ah and I see Mrs. Hermione and Mr. Lupin are almost done with their potions as well.”  
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP  
“I can’t believe Snivellus finished that stupid potion in nineteen minutes,” Sirius complained.  
“He was just showing off for Lily,” Remus said.  
“I guess did you see the way she was looking at him when he finished? It almost looked like she was admiring him, the way she looked at him,” Sirius laughed.  
“Maybe that’s because she doesn’t despise him like you do,” Hermione said slowly.  
“Well then she isn’t right in the head. What class are we going to now?”  
“Um… flying lessons,” Remus said grateful for the change of topic.  
“James should like that,” Hermione commented.   
“Ya that’s all I’ve heard from him for the past week. Well other that how perfect Lily is. Where is James?” Sirius asked. He and Remus looked around confused.  
“”He’s back talking to Lily,” Hermione said, “Lily told me last night that he’s starting to get on her nerves.”  
“Oh great what’ll this be like the fifth time he’s asked her out in two weeks?” Remus asked.  
“Actually seventh you forgot about last Friday during potions when his blew up,” Sirius said.   
“Right and yesterday after she basted him in Defense,” Hermione added.  
By this time they had made their way to the pitch and saw two parallel lines of Clean Sweep brooms lined up in the middle with Madam Hootch in the middle of the two rows.  
“All right class, I want everyone to stand by a broom,” Madam Hootch shouted so everyone could hear her.  
All the first years scrambled to find a spot next to a broom. James and Sirius excitedly ran to a broom while Remus and Hermione reluctantly found a spot near the end of the two lines.  
“Now I want everyone to hold their hand over their broom like this,” Hootch demonstrated on her own broom, “and say ‘UP’,” everyone cheered as the broom flew up into her outstretched hand. “Okay now everyone try.”  
James reached out over his broom and quietly said, “Up,” when the broom flew up into his hand.   
After a few failed attempts to get his broom Sirius looked around and when Madam Hootch was not looking he pulled out his wand and cast Wingardium Leviosa on his broom, making it “fly” into his hand. James saw this and laughed.  
“Why won’t this stupid broom rise?” Hermione complained. “I don’t even know why I need to take this class. I don’t even want to fly.”  
“I’m with you Hermione I don’t like this class either,” Remus agreed as he picked up his broom when Hootch wasn’t looking. Seeing this Hermione followed suit while it was safe.  
“Now I want everyone to mount their brooms but keep their feet on the ground,” Hootch commanded when everyone had their brooms in their hand.   
“Hey Sirius, want to make Snivillus fly?” James whispered to his friend.  
“Of course,” Sirius replied while pulling out his wand, “Wingardium Leviosa,” he whispered.  
“Ah, help me,” Snap yelled out.  
“Mr. Snap! Return to the ground this moment,” Madam Hootch yelled at the boy.  
“I-I can’t,” he yelled back after a failed attempt.  
“Class dismissed,” Hootch announced after rescuing Snap from the sky.  
“That was fun,” Sirius exclaimed as the group walked to the Gryffindor Tower.  
“Did you see Snivillus’ face when you put that spell on him?” James asked.  
“That was you two!” Lily angrily asked.   
“Ya, did you like it?” James coolly asked.  
“Like it! That was mean and dangerous! What if he fell? Someone could have gotten hurt because of you,” Lily ranted.  
“I agree with Lily that was stupid and dangerous of you two,” Hermione said.  
“It was,” Remus agreed when the two boys looked at Hermione with disbelieving looks.

The next day found the five friends sitting together discussing the fast approaching holidays after James and Sirius repeatedly apologiesed for their carless actions of the previous day. The students all looked up in anticipation when they heard the familiar screech of the owls. This could only single the arrival of the post.   
Sirius saw one of the owls swoop down toward him with a letter attached to its leg. It landed on the table and knocked a glass of pumpkin juice over and the contents spilled into Hermione’s lap. Remus cast a quick spell which dried the table and Hermione’s lap.   
“Thanks,” Hermione said, “I hate owls.”  
“No problem, and so do I,” Remus said.  
“Same here,” Sirius agreed as he read the letter.   
His eyes got bigger as he read through it, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” he shouted pumping his fist in the air.  
“What’s it say Sirius?” James asked as his friend did a happy little dance in his seat at the table.  
“It says:  
‘Sirius,  
Do not bother coming home for the holidays. We have heard of the kind you have befriended and do not approve. You are no longer welcome until you rid yourself of those, “friends” you have. You are tainting our family name by associating yourself with those mudbloods, blood- traitor, and half- breed.   
-mum’”  
“Your mum sounds like a lovely women,” Remus commented sarcastically.   
“Oh, she is. You should come over sometime for dinner this summer,” Sirius sarcastically replied back, “What do you think she meant by that last sentence?” he asked looking at the paper, breakfast long forgotten.  
“Um… well, Hermione and Lily are muggle- born, and my family is pure- blood but not a dark family, so I guess I’m probably the ‘blood-traitor,’ but whose the half-breed,” James said.  
“I don’t know,” Sirius commented.  
“So you’re staying here?” Remus asked trying to direct the conversation away from half- breeds, “I am.”  
“Yup, how bout you guys?”  
“I’m staying,” Hermione said.  
“So am I,” Lily added.  
“I don’t know if I am,” James said.  
An owl flew in and landed in front of James. This time everyone moved their food out of the way. James took the letter and read it. After a minute he looked up.  
“Looks like I’m going home,” he said half exited half disappointed.   
That night found Hermione and Remus walking in late for dinner from the library. Sirius was eating as much as he could and James was eating and staring at Lily who started talking to Hermione when she sat down next to her.   
“Sirius, you eat like a dog. In fact a lot of your behavior reminds me of a dog,” Remus commented.  
“Ya, well at least I don’t disappear every full moon. You know if I didn’t know any better I’d think you were a werewolf,” Sirius countered.  
Remus turned white and panicked, ‘Had he figured it out? Was it the letter he received that morning and his sad attempt at changing the conversation?’   
The girls looked back and forth between the two and James was looking at Remus curiously.   
“W-well good thing you know better,” Remus stammered.  
“Or do I? Maybe when you were little you got bit by Fenir Greyback.”  
Remus was staring to shake and looked at Sirius hurt.  
“Oh, Remus I’m sorry. I-I dint’ mean to hurt you, mate,” Sirius groveled, “I was only joking.”   
“It’s okay. I’m not hungry anymore,” Remus said as he got up and walked out.  
Sirius and James shared a curious look with eachother. Hermione watched him leave and then looked at the others.  
“I’m going to go make sure he’s okay,” and with that Hermione followed him out.  
She saw him turn and head in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. She followed behind him hopping he would not notice her till her got there.  
Remus stopped walking, “I know your following me, Hermione.”  
“I just wanted to know if you were okay,” she told hem quietly.  
“I am-,” he trailed off. “I just want to be alone.”  
“Well, why don’t you tell me what bothered you about Sirius’ comment? You know him and how he joked around,” Hermione said.  
“Yell there are just some things you don’t joke about. Especially not in this time, and definitely not if you do not know if something is true,” Remus quietly explained hoping she could not see the tears silently running down his cheeks.   
“Is it true?” Hermione asked. She was starting to worry about him. She saw the light from the window glisten on his wet cheeks and she knew what the answer to her question was but she wanted to make sure. She also knew that none of the students at the school knew and she made a silent vow to herself that she would not tell anyone.  
“I got to go. Can you just leave me alone for a while please?” Remus pleaded. He mentally kicked himself as he turned and left her standing in the quiet corridor. ‘Hopefully she didn’t noticed my slip up,’ he thought, but he knew she did. ‘She is to smart not to. She will be asking me questions soon. Maybe it would be easier if she did know, I mean I know her secret,’ he thought to himself as he climbed the moving staircase.


	9. Secrets Revealed Part 2

“By James and Sirius!” Hermione called out to the two as they left the common room for Christmas break.  
James had owled his mum after he got his letter asking if Sirius could come home with him for the holidays since his parents told him not to come home, and his parents welcomed him with open arms though they were a bit shocked to find out he was of the Black family.  
“By Hermione and Remus. Hope you guys have fun over the Holidays,” James replied.  
After they left Hermione stood and started walking to the portrait door.  
“Hey, where you going?” Remus called before she was able to slip away.  
“Oh, I was just going to go down to the library to do… some research…for a … friend,” Hermione replied nervously.  
“Maybe I can come and help you. Then when were done we can research your problem,” Remus suggested.  
“Well my friend’s research is a little personal, otherwise I would not mind a bit of company,” Hermione said as she slipped out the portrait and rant to the library.   
She really would like company but she knew Remus would become suspicious of what she was doing when he saw her werewolf books, and Hermione did not want to deal with that right now she planned on confronting him tonight before the full moon but that was six hours away and tomorrow was Christmas. She reached the double oak doors leading to the court yard and went outside. She never planned on going to the library in the first place as that would be the first place Remus would look for her at. She made her way down to the beach tree by the lake casting a warming spell on herself, she learned this spell from a charms book in the library, as she walked to keep warm as there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.  
She sat down under the tree and spread her book out in front of herself and began reading where she left off.   
Remus sat in the common room trying to distract himself from what Hermione was “researching” at the moment. He was desperately trying in vain to convince himself that it had nothing to do with him and his furry little problem.  
Later that evening Remus was seated staring into the fire in the common room deep in thought. He never noticed Hermione walk in, go up to her dorm and relieve herself of her books, come back down and sit next to him for five minutes trying to think of a way to start the conversation till she finally spoke.   
“H-hey Remus, how long do you have till you need to leave for your detention?” she quietly asked. He would not have heard her if it was not for her shift of position to face him.  
“Huh? Oh… um… about half an hour. Why?” he asked still looking at the fire. He knew what she was going too asked and he had been dreading this since the day James received his letter to come home for the holidays.   
“Um… well I have a question. I thought this would be the best time to ask since no one else is here.”  
“What is it?” he asked hopping beyond anything else that he was wrong. He knew he wasn’t.  
“Well remember what happened the day we were discussing our plans for the holidays?” Hermione carefully asked him. She didn’t want to make him upset. At his nod she continued, “Sirius’ letter spoke of a blood- traitor, which we said was James, some mudbloods, which is me and Lily, and- “  
“You’re not a mudblood and neither is Lily,” Remus interjected. He still had not looked up from the fire. He did not want her to see the silent tears running down his face, they were in part caused by the pain he was in as his body prepared to transform but they were mostly caused by the pain he felt from knowing Hermione, smart little Hermione, had figured out his secret and probably hated him now. He was not sure why it hurt him so much, plenty of people had found out before and hated him for it. His own father resented him for it. Why did this bother him so much?  
“Remus? Are you okay?” Hermione asked him.  
“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m okay what were you asking?” Remus asked.  
“I wasn’t asking anything. I was going to tell you about my research.”  
The two kids jumped when they heard a knock at the portrait door.  
“That’s my queue to leave for my detention sorry,” he was actually quite glad to be leaving.  
“Okay have a nice night the moon is nice and full tonight. You should have plenty of light,” Hermione told him as he left though the portrait door.  
Remus walked down the hall in despair. This was going to be a horrible night, but he only hoped to be well enough to enjoy his Christmas tomorrow. These were the thoughts that were running through his mind as he made his way down to the Whomping Willow and to the Shrieking Shack, that and the knowledge that Hermione found out his secret.   
This was the last thing that made its way to the front of his mind before he started withering in pain on the floor of the Shack that he had become so accustomed to. He felt his bones breaking and elongating to form the body of the wolf he had never gotten used to. Then everything went black and the wolf took over for the night  
“Happy Christmas to me, I get to come out and play for Christmas this year,” the wolf thought as he bit his arm and the floor became spotted by the crimson liquid.

Hermione remained seated on the couch staring at the portrait door feeling hopeless for what felt like hours but in reality was only one hour. Finally sleep won out and she laid down where she was feeling too weak to make her way up the stair to her dormitory. Her eye lids heavy with sleep finally flickered shut and she fell into a deep sleep. 

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the castle  
Santa made his run giving parcel after parcel  
All the windows were dark, not a creature awake   
Until a sad cry came from down by the lake  
The children woke with quite a start  
And felt a cool breeze that froze their hearts  
Down to the common room they all did run  
They grabbed their friends and stood at the window watching the fun  
Dumbledore stood at the front gate   
Holding a werewolf off the estate  
With a wave of his hand the creature did flee  
And Dumbledore turned with his hand on his knee  
Dripping with blood the old man’s joint bent  
And for Madame Pomfrey the head boy did send  
Yet Dumbledore looked up to the window and yelled without fright  
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!  
Back to their beds the relived children did go  
Noticing not who wasn't there for the show  
A sad little werewolf fled back to his shack  
Wishing he had friends to join in his pack.

The next morning Hermione woke realizing that Remus never returned during the night. She quickly ran up to her dormitory to change thankful for the fact that all of her room mates went home for the holidays. She quickly changed and ran out of the Gryffindor tower and to the Hospital Wing where she would find young Remus Lupin lying in a bed.   
“You cannot come in! I’m sorry but Mr. Lupin needs his rest he had a hard night. Come back again later and maybe you can see him,” Madam Pomfrey told the young witch.  
Neither of them noticed the boy sitting up in bed watching the two.  
“It’s okay I’d actually like to talk to her, Madam Pomfrey,” Remus weakly said.   
“Alright, go over there but only for a little while,” Pomfrey sternly said.  
Hermione quietly walked over to his bed and sat in a chair next to it.  
“You know about my problem don’t you,” Remus asked quietly waiting for her to blow up on him and tell him she hates him not, and that she never wants to see him again.  
“Yes, I do and before you say anything else, I do not hate you for it,” Hermione quickly explained.  
“Y-you don’t? How could you not? I’m a monster!” Remus asked stunned.  
“You’re only a monster if you act like one. You are not a monster. You’re only a kind, caring, and intelligent boy who happens to have a problem once a month,” Hermione explained.  
“O-oh, but I don’t think you under-.”  
“No. I understand perfectly well. What do you think I’ve been studying for the past month?”  
Remus blushed and got a sheepish look on his face. He knew she had figured out that he had lycanthropy but he didn’t think she had been researching it. Rather he thought she hated him and was trying to avoid him.  
“If you don’t mind, would you tell me how it happened?” Hermione asked.  
“Well, that’s a long story.”


	10. Christmas

“I was probably around the age of six when it happened,” Remus started. “I had asked my mum if I could go outside and play. She said I could and I went out and immediately crossed the lawn to my favorite tree,” he paused.  
Hermione could tell this was hard for him and he saw his eyes becoming moist with new tears.  
“It’s alright, Remus. Take your time,” Hermione told him.  
“Thank you. I’ve never actually told anyone any of this before now,” Remus explained.  
“I’m honored that you would tell me, and I swear I will never tell anyone of this,” she told him. He could see the honesty in her eyes and took comfort in them.  
“My mum came out not long later. She had a book and sat down on the porch to read. No more than ten minutes later my father came home. He was early which seemed odd because he never came home early, and he looked pale. He was talking urgently to my mum about something, I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but my mum collapsed into my father crying and hitting his chest. He just stood there holding her and sat down with her on his lap, rocking her and looking up at the sky,” he stopped and took a shaky breath. The tears were coming steadier now.  
Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, which he returned with one of his own.  
“You don’t have to tell the rest if you don’t want to. I mean I know what happens at the end,” Hermione told him. She hated how badly this was obviously hurting him to bring these memories back up.  
No, I know your secret. It’s time you know mine,” he said, “As the afternoon progressed on my parents got even more anxious. Soon the moon came out from behind the clouds and my parents heard something growling right at the edge of the woods. My mum screamed, she was becoming hysterical. My dad walked her to the door and told her to go inside as he yelled at me to come inside. I started to pick up my toys but he yelled at me to leave them. I stared to stand but froze when I heard a low growl come from behind me. My father yelled at me to run, but I paused scared stiff. I looked behind me. I saw what resembled a werewolf and started running as fast as my legs would carry me,” he paused again.  
“Why do I keep pausing? Why can’t I just tell her?” he thought. He knew why. This was the first time he had ever told anyone his whole story. He was scared to tell the next part, but he desperately wanted to. He trusted Hermione with his life, and this story was his life. So why was this so hard to do?  
“I tried to run to my father but I stumbled and fell. I looked behind myself again and saw the monster right behind myself. I saw it ready itself to pounce. I felt a heavy weight hit my body. My father and mum watched in horror as it bit me and run off. My father came to his senses long enough to grab his wand and stun the werewolf. He ran to my side and picked me up. I felt a searing pain course through my body before everything went black.”  
Hermione saw fresh tears silently running down his checks. She felt her throat constrict and tears of her own blurred her vision.  
“Maybe there’s something I can do to help him,” Hermione thought. She started raking her brain for any possibilities. They sat together in the silence of the white walls of the Hospital Wing.  
“Hermione there isn’t anything you can do to help me. There’s no cure for lycanthropy, and I’m a monster I would kill you if you tried to come with me on the full moon,” Remus explained quietly as though he could read her thoughts.  
Then Hermione flung herself at Remus and rapped him in a warm, bone crushing, hug.  
“Ow- Hermione- can’t- breath- chest- hurts- Hermione-,” Remus gasp in-between breaths and the pain shooting through his torso.  
“Sorry,” Hermione apologized after releasing him from her hold.   
The two sat together and talked the rest of the morning. Madam Pomfrey occasionally came and gave Remus a potion but for the most part they were alone… together.  
“Mr. Lupin, how are you feeling?” Pomfrey asked around lunch time.  
“Yes, a lot better, thank you. Do you think I can go down to lunch with Hermione?” he asked.  
“If you think you can make it, I don’t see why not. It is Christmas after all. Why don’t you get changed?”   
With that she and Hermione left him in the privacy of the curtains to get changed.   
“Miss. Granger, keep an eye on him and if anything changes take him right back up here,” Madam Pomfrey sternly told her.   
Hermione nodded just as Remus came out in clean robes. “Ready to go?” he asked her. She nodded and they walked out… together.  
The pair ate lunch in a comfortable silence in the virtually empty Great Hall.   
“So after this wanna go up and open presents?” Hermione asked him.  
“You mean you haven’t opened yours yet?” he asked in astonishment.  
“Nope, but I mean I don’t have very many since you know...” she trailed off.  
He knew what she was talking about. “Yes, and I have something for you.”   
They left for the common room not long later.  
“Hey one second and I’ll be right back,” Hermione shouted as she ran up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory. She came down a moment later with a small box that she handed to him.   
He gave her a small box as well and together they un- wrapped their boxed. Hermione’s present was a small, silver, half moon necklace.   
“I see you looking up at the sky every night and thought you would like it. I guess now it kind of has a double meaning,” he joked.  
Remus finished un- wrapping his and found a watch.   
“It’s not just a watch,” Hermione explained, “I put a spell on it so you can track the full moon on it, instead on keeping track on all those charts you have.”   
“Thank you. It’s great, really,” he said and gave her a hug.  
Hermione sat in her bed un-wrapping the remainder on her presents that night. She had mostly received candy form the other marauders and a book from Lily. She came across a un-named envelope and opened it thinking it was a joke from a friend.   
Dear Hermione,  
I know your secret. I’m the one responsible for it. If you want to remain safe then I suggest stopping your little “research”. This is a warning. If you do not stop then things will get much worse than this and your little friend won’t make it through the next full moon. That’s right I know about that too.

“Worse than this? What did they mean by this?” she thought.  
Her eyes became heavy and she felt a sharp pain course through her body. She got up and stumbled out the door and just made it to the stares before she gave a loud scream and collapsed. Her body fell down the stairs.


	11. St. Mungo's

Remus was jerked awake by a piercing scream coming from the top of the stairs leading to the girl’s dormitory. He looked over the top of the couch and saw a figure hunched over the top of the stairs.  
“Hermione?” Remus groggily asked, “Hermione!” he shouted as he saw the figure go limp and collapse on the stairs.  
Her body dropped and tumbled down the stairs. Remus jumped up and over the couch, running and falling to sit at her head. By the time he reached her she was laying in a growing puddle of blood and her breathing was coming in short and pained gasp. He pressed his hand to her head in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding he sat there cradling her lifeless form to his chest.   
“Come on Hermione, please wake up,” he whispered into her ear. He felt tears gathering up in his eyes and he did not know where they were coming from. Sure he would be worried if any of his other friends were injured but he did not think he would cry. He did not cry about very much. He was never very sensitive. He cried when he told someone about what happened when he was six and that was about it.  
He desperately tried to figure out a way to get her to the hospital wing without causing her any more pain or injury to her weak frame.   
Her blood was still coming in a steady stream out of her head and he decided to try and carry her to the hospital wing. He gently gathered her small, frail, body up in his arms and began to make his way to the portrait door. He quietly but quickly made his way down the corridors and to the Hospital Wing. Hermione’s head was gradually bleeding less, but Remus was not sure if that was because the wound was scabbing over or if there was no blood left in her body to bleed out though by now the boy was probably covered in a majority of the girl’s blood.  
Either way he quickened his pace and was soon met in the middle of the corridor by none other than Professor McGonagall.  
“Mr. Lupin what on earth are you doing out of bed at this time?” the stern professor asked him.   
“Please Professor, can you help me? I don’t know what happened, she was standing at the top of the stairs and fell,” He started to ramble.  
“Oh my, come here,” she gasped. McGonagall ran to him and cast a quick levitation charm on the girl and quickly completed the journey to the Hospital Wing with Remus in tow.  
They were soon in the white room with Hermione in a bed and Remus sitting next to her in a chair, refusing to leave until he found out what was wrong with her.  
Pomfrey was quickly working around her healing her head wound and setting her broken ankle. She got a blood replenishing potion in her system and began scanning her for evidence of the cause of her injury.   
Remus soon saw a noticeable change in the color of her skin though she still looked lifeless and he was scared he was going to lose her.  
“She seems to have been cursed. It would be easier to identify the spell if I had the object that placed it on her,” Madam Pomfrey explained to Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Remus (of course).   
“I think I saw a crumpled piece of parchmen next to her on the ground,” Remus quietly said.  
“Minerva, would you walk Mr. Lupin back to the Gryffindor tower to retrieve this paper?” Dumbledore asked.  
“Right away Headmaster,” McGonagall replied, immediately motioning the young boy out of the room.  
“Do not touch the parchment,” Pomfrey shouted at them as they left the room.  
“Do you know what caused this?” the old headmaster asked the matron when the boy was out of earshot.  
“Of course I do. It’s a dark form of magic. I just do not know what brought it into the school and who caused it. It is a dark spell used to cause great pain to travel through the victim’s body. I have not seen it used in a long time. It is often cast on an object and sent to the person anonymously and last for a short while. Mrs. Granger was lucky to have fallen because if she had not then she would likely still be in great pain and there is no way to stop it though she nearly died. If she had arrived any later then there would not have been much I could have done to save her,” Madam Pomfrey explained.  
Remus and McGonagall walked back in that moment with a piece of crumpled parchment stained with blood in a conjured vial.   
“Let me see that,” Pomfrey said taking the vial and carefully removed the paper.   
She ran several tests on it and soon looked at Dumbledore and sadly nodded her head in confirmation. They could not make out what the parchment said as it was to coated in blood to make any sense of the sloppy writing scrawled on it.  
“What? What’s going on? What happened to her?” Remus franticly asked the three adults.  
Pomfrey gave a sigh of resignation and slowly explained all of her conclusions to the frantic boy. 

Hermione remained in the same state for the rest of the week and was taken to St Mungo’s Remus hardly left her side. Soon the holidays came to a close and Remus was forced to return to the school and classes.   
He met James and Sirius at the gates and walked with them idly listening to their holidays.  
“What’s the matter Remus? You seem awfully quiet today,” James inquired of the boy that night at dinner.  
Remus explained what had happened and how he had woken up to her screaming and saw her body as it tumbled down the stairs and land in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.  
The two boys stared at Remus. Their mouths were gapping at him in disbelief but they both knew he was telling the truth. He would not joke about something as serious as that.


	12. Returned

Hermione slowly opened her eyes but regretted the decision immediately. She laid there with her eyes closed and listened to the soft beeping of machines. After a few minutes she decided to try opening her eyes again. This time she succeeded and looked around the small room. She saw white walls and multiple machines she was hooked up to by cords and IVs. "I'm definitely not in Hogwarts," she muttered to herself. The door clicked open and a woman with blond curly hair, who Hermione assumed was a healer because of her attire, walked in the door. "Hello?" Hermione croaked. Her voice was raspy and her throat was dry and made it painful to talk. "Oh, Mrs. Granger you're awake." the healer said dropping her wand in surprise. "Yeah... What happened? How did I get here?" Hermione asked. "You had some Dark Magic placed on you. You were brought here shortly after they looked over you in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts," the healer explained as she looked over her patient. "You have a very kind boyfriend," she commented after a moment. "What? I don't have a boyfriend," the young witch tried to explain. "You don't?" the Healer asked. When Hermione shook her head she got a confused look on her face. "Then who was the boy that was in here everyday over Christmas break?" she thought out loud. "There was a boy here? Who was it?" Hermione questioned. "Yes believe his name was...oh what was it? It started with an R." the nurse thought. "Was it Remus Lupin?" "Yes I do believe that was his name," she stated a bit distractedly. "Well you seem to have made a great recovery. You should be good to return to school in about two days." With that she left the room and Hermione heard her footsteps echoing down the hall. Remus, James, Sirius, and surprisingly Lily were sitting together at a secluded table in the library. Lily and Remus were studying for a Defence Against the Dark Arts test with numerous piles of books around them while James and SIrius discussed ways to prank the Slytherins after James failed for the tenth time that week in his attempt at getting Lily to go out with him. "Mr. Lupin," Remus' head jerked up from his book at the sound of his name. "Yes, Professor?" he asked. "The Headmaster would like to speak to you," the stern professor said presenting him with a slip of parchment. "Um... okay, thank you," Remus said unsteadily, accepting the parchment. The boys gathered their things and left the library leaving many students to sigh in relief that the place was left virtually untouched, other than the large stack of books. "What do you think he wants to talk to you about?" James asked after a moment of silence. "I don't know, James." "What did you do, mate? I haven't even been called to the Headmaster's office and you know how much I've done" Sirius said walking ahead of them and turned around so he was facing them. "I didn't do anything," Remus told them. Inwardly he was wondering if it had anything to do with him telling Hermione about his lycanthropy. "I'm going to get expelled. Dumbledore told me not to let anyone find out about my being a werewolf and I told Hermione. She just wanted to know how I continued to get hurt and where I was going. I could have come up with a good lie but I told her the truth. I'm so stupid. Why do I have to be so honest?-" "Remus, Remus?" James sang waving his hand in his friend's face. "Hu? What?" Remus was jerked out of his thoughts and back to reality. "What were you thinking about? You were totally zoned." Sirius commented, tripping over the edge of his robe and falling. James started laughing and Sirius shot him a look that could kill him. "Oh nothing," Remus lied. "It wasn't nothing you look worried. What's wrong?" James asked. "Nothing, butterscotch," Remus hurriedly said the password and the gargoyle moved aside and Remus jumped onto the stairs and up to the Headmaster's office before anymore questions could be thrown at him. Remus knocked on the large double oak doors and was soon beckoned in by the Headmaster opening the door. "Have a seat Mr. Lupin," the old Headmaster said, "Lemon drop?" "No thank you sir," Remus kindly declined. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about, sir?" "Well as you know, Hermione has been in St. Mungo's for the past week." Dumbledore explained. "Yes I am aware of that," the young boy commented. "Mrs. Granger woke up two days ago and has been cleared to return to school tomorrow. I want you to make sure that she doesn't have any other accidents." "She woke up two days ago? How come no one told me?" Remus asked. He was a little angry that he had not been informed of this news earlier. "The healer's didn't want anyone to come visit her till they were sure she of her health. Do you understand?" Remus nodded his head acknowledging the Headmaster. He left the office feeling absolutely elated. Hermione was coming back and he would get to see her again. Merlin how he missed her. "Hey Remus what did Dumbledore want to talk to you about?" James ran up to him from across the common room. "Hermione is coming back today," Remus told his friends. "Thats good," James said with a smile that Remus knew all too well. "Well James you know what that means?" Sirius asked with a cunning look on his face. "Yes I do," James replied with the same look. "Welcome Back Party!" the two said in unison. Remus smiled and buried his face in his hands shaking his head and trying not to laugh at the exchange between his two best friends. Hermione was brought back to the school via the floo and appearing in the Headmaster's office. "Welcome back Mrs. Granger," Dumbledore said leading her to sit across from his desk. Hermione sat and looked at the grandfatherly figure expectantly. "Now during the Holidays you experienced a kind of dark magic. We found a letter addressed to you and it had the same trace of the magic placed on you. Do you know anything about the cause of it?" "Well Headmaster, I don't know who did this but I do know that someone sent me here. I'm from the 90's actually. Someone set this whole thing up." Hermione explained. "Remus is the only one who knows about this," she added it as an afterthought. Dumbledore just sat and listened to her share her story of the last few months with him. When she was done he just looked at her. "Well while you are residing here I would suggest that you keep this a secret and I trust that Mr. Lupin is the only one who knows?" "Yes," she agreed. "Good, now if you receive anything else that seems questionable then bring it to either me or Professor McGonagall." "Okay," Hermione nodded. "Anything else you would like to discuss with me sir?" "Yes. I want you to know that I am a where that Remus shared his secret with you and I want to make sure that you are aware of the severity of his situation and that you will not divulge his secret to anyone," Dumbledore explained. "Sir I assure you that I would never dream of doing that," Hermione promised. "Alright then that will be all, and I am sure that Mr. Lupin will be very happy to see you. You are dismissed." Hermione thanked the Headmaster and made her way down the stairs where, true to Dumbledore's word, she was met with an excited Remus who greeted her with a warm and over enthusiastic hug. "Hermione I missed you. How are you feeling?" Remus inquired of her. "I can't breath," Hermione gasped. "Do I need to take you to the hospital wing?" Remus looked down at her with worry etched in his eyes. "No, all you need to do is let go of me." Remus looked down to realize that he was still hugging her. He released her and stepped back. "Sorry Hermione." "It's quite all right, Remus," Hermione laughed. "Okay, well you may want to know that James and Sirius are planning a welcome back party for you and it will be in there style and that means you will want to be careful with where you go," Remus explained. "I understand," Hermione said with a knowing smile on her face, "Why don't we go somewhere else then. They won't know that I'm back yet will they?" "No they won't we'll just be careful not to run into them. Why don't we go down to the lake?" Remus asked. "That sounds fantastic." Hermione agreed. The two of them walked down the stair and across the grounds to the lake and sat there under the beach tree talking until curfew. "Perfect. So the Old Man and the werewolf think they can protect the young witch do they? Well he is in for a surprise. That was only the beginning of what is to come for the young girl." In a dark room a man sat watching the exchange between the Old Headmaster and "The Brightest Witch of Her Age," planning his next move to destroy the life of her.


End file.
